BSY slams HDK over farm loan waiver

Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly B S Yeddyurappa said on Monday that the BJP would wait for the H D Kumaraswamy-led coalition to table its budget and decide on mounting pressure for farm loans waiver.

“I’ve appraised the party leadership on everything that’s happening. We'll wait for the budget to be tabled,” Yeddyurappa told reporters.

The BJP has been mounting pressure on the Congress-JD(S) coalition to waive loans borrowed by small and marginal farmers, a poll promise the JD(S) made in its manifesto.

The saffron party had earlier announced a statewide protest if Kumaraswamy failed to implement a farm loan waiver. This was after Kumaraswamy, on May 30, sought 15 days time to announce a blueprint on how the loan waiver would be implemented.

The BJP state president said farmers in Karnataka today were suffering because they were in a “state of confusion.”

He said the previous Congress government, which wrote off short-term farm loans in the cooperative sector, was yet to reimburse about ₹3,500 crore - 4,000 crore to cooperative banks. “As a result, farmers aren’t able to get fresh loans, especially during the start of the sowing season,” Yeddyurappa said.

Yeddyurappa also hit out at Kumaraswamy for asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to chip in 50% for farm loan waiver. “BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra waived loans without any help from the Centre,” Yeddyurappa pointed out.

While Kumaraswamy wants to present a full-fledged budget, his predecessor and chairman of the Coalition Coordination Committee Siddaramaiah has said that a supplementary budget would suffice. “Add to this the fact that some Congress leaders feel there should be a full-fledged budget. In all, there’s complete confusion in this coalition government.”

In a taunt, Yeddyurappa urged Kumaraswamy to “go through” his poll promises before presenting his budget. “He will realise that reality is completely different,” Yeddyurappa remarked.

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